Eight in race for city council

The number of officially qualified candidates for Rocklin City Council has grown to eight with the recent filing of incumbent City Council member George Magnuson.
With three council seats on the Nov. 6 ballot, the three candidates capturing the most votes will be elected to four-year terms on the five member council. Each member earns a stipend of $685 with no benefits.
Magnuson has served five, four-year terms on the council since 1991 and has been selected Mayor five times.
“I think it is important to have a majority of experienced council members on our city council,” Magnuson said.
Magnuson, 62, is a Republican with a degree from Sierra College. He has mortgage banking experience and is currently employed by the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development.
Also qualifying for the council race is Rocklin resident Dan DeFoe, 63, a declined-to-state independent.
He has a degree from California State University, Fresno, and an advanced degree from California State University, Sacramento.
DeFoe has radio and television broadcast experience and is currently teaching history at Sierra College in Rocklin.
“Part of the reason I’m running is to be the voice for Rocklin history on the council,” DeFoe said. “It’s a voice that’s been largely missing.”
Rocklin council candidate Ken Broadway, 46, is a Republican with a degree from University of Nevada at Reno and a masters from University of Phoenix.
“I really just love this community,” Broadway said. “I really want to keep this city the way it is.”
Broadway currently works for United Parcel Service in Rocklin and volunteers with Rocklin Girls Fast Pitch Softball.
At age 18, Jack Lento-Edrich is the youngest candidate in this election.
Lento-Edrich, a registered Republican, is a full-time student at Rocklin High School, who expects to graduate next spring and attend Sierra College in the fall.
Lento-Edrich, who said he’s no stranger to community service, feels the council will give him a forum to help others.
“I am running because I feel I can do some good,” Lento-Edrich said.
Candidate Julie Millard-Stadel, 52, an independent, has a business degree from St. Mary’s College of California.
She is a Real Estate Broker for Whitney Oaks Realty and volunteers with the Whitney Oaks Homeowners Association.
“I sit on the board of the HOA and I enjoy that participation. I thought I might enjoy this participation (as a council member),” Millard-Stadel said.
Greg Janda, 49, a Republican, has a degree in business administration from San Jose State. He owns and operates a technology business.
“With my perspective as a small business owner, I will work to preserve what is great about Rocklin and promote responsible economic development and jobs for our community,” Janda said.
Wijaya “VJ” Perera, 52, an independent, has an electrical engineering degree from Transworld Education College in the United Kingdom. Perera is a real estate agent, a mechanical contractor and a small business owner.
He said the council and city planners could use his 28 years of experience in facility and grounds construction, operation and maintenance.
”I have a strong feeling that if I get elected, I could run the city very efficiently and smoothly,” Perera said.
Dave Butler, 51, a Republican, has a political science degree from UCLA. Since 2006 Butler has been the CEO of an education non-profit, LEED (Linking Education and Economic Development).
Butler has worked as a staffer in the California State Senate and served in leadership positions with the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Rocklin Area Chamber of Commerce.
“As a trusted leader in local business, government and non-profit sectors, I believe I have the experience to help lead Rocklin in these areas as a member of the city council,” Butler said.